Teaching English to Teens and Pre-Teens

In collaboration with Koekoeā Studio, we look at the approaches, practices and mindsets we need to to develop in our learners and in ourselves as teachers.

  • Understanding development from childhood to adulthood: The cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes taking place.

  • Building the platform for learning to happen through looking at behaviour (ours, not theirs), classroom management, trust, and rapport.

  • Teaching approaches and ideas for activities.

Reviews

5 star rating

Enlightening and Educational

Anne Hogan

It was a very engaging course to not only educate based on knowledge off adolescents - but also enlighten on how they are changing and why. Very much enjoyed the platform and the types of ways the course was put together.

It was a very engaging course to not only educate based on knowledge off adolescents - but also enlighten on how they are changing and why. Very much enjoyed the platform and the types of ways the course was put together.

Read Less
5 star rating

Teaching pre-teens and teens effectively in the English Language Classroom.

Jaime Cortes

This is a wonderful collection of very well founded advice to understand the behaviour of pre teens and teens. Thanks.

This is a wonderful collection of very well founded advice to understand the behaviour of pre teens and teens. Thanks.

Read Less

The Experts Behind this Course

On the Ground in the Classroom

James Heal

Course Writer and Online Workshop Presenter

James Santana Heal is an exam preparation and teen expert! James has been teaching at the British Institute of Seville for the last 17 years, having taught previously in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Indonesia. He has taught all ages, but has a particular specialty: he's recognised by his teaching colleagues as being great with teens. He is interested in teacher training, encouraging students to become autonomous learners, and the use of student- generated materials. He has published several articles in the ETP magazine on differentiation and routines with young learners. He has a degree in Modern and Contemporary History, a CELTA and Delta.

Emma Pratt

Senior Tutor, Course Writer and Online Workshop Presenter

Emma’s specialism is looking at creative solutions to classroom practice and learning, working with all age groups. She has a background in museum and visual arts education and English language teaching, as well as communications, marketing, video, audio, design and coding. She has also worked in teacher management working with the business side of running language schools and working with agents. She is a visual artist with an active, recognised career spanning 20 + years (emmapratt.com). Her current project is in writing and illustrating for children. She is also a parent and company director.

In learning, her area of interest is in artmaking as a physical, intellectual, and emotional response to the world. She investigates ways in which it can be used in English language contexts to engage children’s brains, challenge their visual schema, and give voice to non-verbal forms of communication. She has contributed to publications and blogs on this subject.

Emma has given workshops at IATEFL and The Image Conference on drawing in the classroom as well as being the 2018 Artist in Residence at IATEFL. She is interested in the role of illustration in storytelling and how to exploit that in the classroom. Emma has been involved in an Artists in Schools programme and in artist residency projects where she has looked at storytelling. Online, she has given drawing and language workshops for children.

Emma has been designing online learning courses since 2013 and was, with Jamie King, a finalist in the ELTons 2014 for Innovation in Teaching Resources.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts
  • CELTA Certificate– Certificate in English Language Teacher to Adults (Seville, Spain)
  • Post Graduate: Museum Studies, Massey University, New Zealand
  • Master in Programming (CEI, Spain)
  • Languages: English; Spanish (upper-intermediate advanced); Māori (beginner)

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Understanding The Mind and How it Develops: Childhood to Adulthood

    • Welcome and thanks for joining me!

    • About the writer of this course

      FREE PREVIEW

    • The Pre-Teen Diaries I

      FREE PREVIEW

    • Well-Being

      FREE PREVIEW

    • Task

    • What to Expect in This Module

    • The Pre-Teen Diaries II

    • Feedback

    • Forming a Good Base for Well-Being in Childhood

      FREE PREVIEW

    • Mental States

    • Illustration and Art as Platforms for Talking about Emotions

    • What age group do we actually talk about when we say “Teens” or "Pre-Teens"?

    • Our Beliefs About Teaching English Across the Spectrum of Ages

    • Ways to Adapt this Last Activity for Your Classroom

    • What are Puberty and Adolescence? When Does Adolescence Start and Finish?

    • Myths About Teens

    • What Neurological Developments are Taking Place During Adolescence?

    • True or False: As a Result of the Neurological Changes Taking Place, What are Adolescents and Pre-Adolescents Like?

    • Further Reading: Bolstering self-critical children who tend to talk themselves down
  • 2

    Setting up the Culture of Your Classroom: Building Rapport

    • The Pre-Teen Diaries III

    • A Story About My Nephew

    • What Makes a Good Teacher? Students Tell Us What They Think.

    • Teen Teacher Extraordinaire: Jame's Ten Tips for Building Rapport

    • Our Lizard Brain I: Anger, Stress, Panic and Meltdowns

    • Our Lizard Brain II: Strategies for Managing it and Modelling Control to Our Students.

    • Time to Reflect and Set Some Goals

    • Further Reading
  • 3

    Careers and Jobs

    • Self-Employment: Learn how to define your niche and position yourself in the education market.

    • Applying for a job? Want to be noticed by recruiters?

This course is a collaboration between Koekoeā Studio and James Heal

Find out more about the work of Koekoeā studio here